ONGC inks pacts with 23 firms for 31 oil, gas blocks

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation along with its partners on Wednesday signed production sharing contracts for 31 oil and gas blocks awarded to 23 companies in the eighth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy VIII.

businessUpdated: Jun 30, 2010 20:30 IST

IANS

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) along with its partners on Wednesday signed production sharing contracts (PSCs) for 31 oil and gas blocks awarded to 23 companies in the eighth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy VIII (NELP VIII).

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora and Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily presided over the signing ceremony.

Deora in a written speech said: “Talking of the future, our intention is to move to the open acreage licensing policy regime as soon as possible.”

He said that under this policy, companies can suggest any block for offer at any time, without waiting for the regular bid rounds under NELP and that the blocks will be awarded to the party making the best bid.

Also present on the occasion was Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasad. He said: “For NELP to become operational, the establishment of a national data repository (NDR) is a prerequisite. The director general of hydrocarbons is in the process of setting up the NDR which will archive all exploration and production data, all under one roof.”

“Certain regulations regarding ownership of data sharing of information in the public domain will be formulated while setting up the NDR. These issues are being looked into,” Prasad added.